a blog about transition

One Year Post Top Surgery

Can you believe it’s been a year since I made the best pun of my life? I can’t.

First, I want to thank my parents, especially my dad, for fighting the insurance company to get me this surgery. Three appeals over the course of six months took patience I could only dream of. You guys worked so hard to get me this surgery, because you understood the suffering I was going through wearing a binder. Thank you to the doctors who worked with my parents to prove that this surgery was a medical necessity. And thank you to Harvard Pilgrim, our then insurance company, for having trans healthcare and a trans specialist.

Getting this surgery in on time was more stressful than it should have been. My dad was getting a new job, and a change in insurance. We had just spent half a year fighting insurance and finally got approval. We had a time frame we had to get the surgery in, and that scheduling was hard. Throw in the fact I got extremely sick a few days before surgery? I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to get the surgery. Our new insurance is based out of Virginia, and they view trans healthcare as a luxury. Surgery practically saved my life, and they think that it’s on level with a nose job. Yikes.

I had my top surgery on 3/14/16 with Dr. Melissa Johnson in Springfield, MA. I had my drains in for a week (I should have had them in longer. She was hesitant to take them out but I insisted because they hurt so much, but now I have this weird inflated pocket on my sides which hurts. Oh well.), and I was out for school for two weeks.